void sky()
{
Are there worlds this darkness enfolds?
Are there stories yet to be told?
Of unknows inhabiting unknowns;
And things we cannot control.
What secrets can a multiverse hold?
This vast ocean with holes,
Sheds light on our trivial roles;
Distant neighbors peeking through windows,
Tiny and twinkling like our goals.
What secrets does the universe hold?
We go so fast, yet so slow;
How long can we continue to glow?
In the end, will the bulk remain dark?
Dark forever, and will we know
the secrets that the universe holds.
But now I stand and stare,
in the tranquility of cool air;
The world is still, and nighttime reigns
my thoughts and why I am aware-
the beauty that this universe holds.
}
-Shreya Gupta
Footnote: I wrote this poem while stargazing on an exceptionally dark and starry winter night. It starts with wondering at the night sky and the possibility of life or some entity so unfamiliar that we might not even know whether to classify it as living or non-living. My perspective returns to humans, and I then try to correlate the slow rotation of the celestial sphere with the rotation of the earth, and then all the larger-scale movements of ours till finally the expansion of the universe itself. Time runs forward in my imagination till the last black hole has evaporated, and the universe is potentially dark forever. Through 'In the end, will the bulk remain dark,' I not only ask whether the universe will be dark forever after the last black hole has evaporated but also whether we will ever figure out the mystery of dark matter (the bulk of all matter). My train of thoughts ends as I return to where I started- looking up at the sky and wondering at my place in the universe.
#poetry